Hey Everyone,

Before I depart from this subreddit forever (thank God), I wanted to do one more comprehensive post to hopefully help first-time takers and retakers, and to provide a lot of great resources in one spot.

To those who passed: CONGRATULATIONS! Please feel free to comment on this post with what you specifically did that helped you pass (especially if you are a retaker) and provide any additional, non-copyrighted resources that you think people may find helpful. Many of you crushed the bar exam, so your insight is much appreciated.

To those of you who did not pass this time: I’m so sorry, I know that feeling and it’s the absolute worst feeling in the world. But everyone here and all honest practicing attorneys know that this is just a hoop we all currently must jump through. Give yourself some grace and take care of your mental and physical health. If you are looking for motivation: the feeling of overcoming that intense feeling of sadness associated with failing through hard work, grit and determination, against whatever tough circumstances you are facing, is worth every minute of misery spent studying. Keep believing in yourself! You can do this when you are ready.

With that said, before discussing the bar exam, here is a little bit of background information about me and my experience taking the bar exam. You can read about my experience below and access my outlines I created from scratch at the below link. Additionally, if you are looking for a tutor, I included a few resources as well.

Background:165+ LSAT (while working 60 hours a week), taught the LSAT while I was an accountant prior to law school, graduated roughly at median (but had a bad semester the semester my second son was born bringing me from top 1/3rd to median). I had two children during law school and clerked nearly the entire time I was allowed to.

First Attempt July 22: Total Score: 263 Written: 139.2 MBE: 123.3.

Second Attempt February 23: Total Score: 284 Written: 145.1 MBE: 138.9.

In short, I passed on my second attempt while working during busy season at a large public accounting firm while also managing being a father to two young kids. I have a JD advantage job that is transactional in nature that I genuinely love, so if you have questions about that feel free to DM me. Of course, that means I probably won’t even use my score (my work only cared I got a 260 and passed in a jurisdiction), but for me, this was personal and about closing a chapter of my life the way I wanted to.

My July 22 thoughts and breakdown can be found here:

Final Thoughts on the Bar Exam FOR THE SLACKERS IN THE BACK : barexam (reddit.com)

I Failed the Nebraska Bar Exam BUT : barexam (reddit.com)

My February 23 breakdown post can be found here:

Nebraska is Out I PASSED 263->284 : barexam (reddit.com)

**A link to my outlines I CREATED and compiled from various sources are here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_lEVDu_DvTozMRiNvnyC8clXI7TQbaL-?usp=share_link

If you are looking for a tutor, Snoogoats is helping people for relatively cheap and his account is another one worth taking a look at if you are looking for free, thorough, and hilarious substantive content: SnooGoats8671 (u/SnooGoats8671) - Reddit. I know Sean Silverman is on here too and has chimed in on occasion. Happy to add anyone else here. Joe Seperac has a ton of knowledge as well and, I think, does some tutoring.

Lastly, nothing in the rules says we cannot all collude and work together to get as many people as possible to pass this exam. So participate in this subreddit and share your thoughts!

On that note, let’s get after it.

I. Study Strategy/ Schedule

“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”

That’s to say, there is no one right way to study for the bar exam. Some people have had great success with Barbri. Generally, I think the consensus on Reddit and among my classmates is that Themis is the better choice. I think the big question is: do you think you’ll need a structured study program to hold yourself accountable? If so, typical bar prep companies may be for you. With that said, you can study and pass the bar without paying for traditional test prep companies.

For me, I purchased Barbri and hated it. The videos were too long and were substantively too broad, meaning they covered everything rather than focusing on the core information that the bar exam tests. I just could tell it wasn’t going to work for me. And I didn’t really feel like I needed structure, I was more interested in just genuinely learning how the test worked, not being told how it worked.

What worked for me for the second round was: Adaptibar, Jonathan Grossman videos (all of them, especially mastering the MBE) through Adapatibar, and the Everything Pack from the NCBE. I didn’t really have an exact schedule, but generally, on days I wasn’t commuting (3 days a week), I would study 3 hours at night and 1 hour over lunch. On days I would commute, I either took the day off or I just tried to do as much as I could at night (typically an hour or two). I would also do 1 day a weekend roughly 6 to 8 hours straight.

I highly recommend starting with Jonathan Grossman’s videos. He has an ability to make the information entertaining, and he gets straight to the point. Think of it this way: those videos give you a good base of substantive knowledge to work from while answering questions. You should try to write the information from John’s videos as concisely as possible while watching the videos to stay engaged and to start building an outline (or pull up my outline while he is talking and go through it to feel confident you have that information). From there, you can answer questions w/ Adaptibar (actual NCBE questions except Civ Pro) and pick up additional nuances from the questions you answer.

After that, I think one thing I did differently that helped the second time around was I would do 100 questions of a single MBE subject in a row, and I did that for each MBE subject. The goal is to do the questions (you can do sets of 10 or however many you have time for) using the information from your outline while using the answers to the questions to add to your outline so that you become better at that particular MBE subject. It doesn’t really matter how many of these questions you get right or wrong, what matters is you take the knowledge from the answer choices and make sure they are in your outline.

Once, I completed all of the MBE subjects, I took a practice test to set a base score so that I had a metric to compare future practice tests to in order to see if I was improving.

Following the practice test, I would do sets of 25 or 50 questions mixed sets during the week at night AND REVIEW. You have to review the questions you miss and keep adding to your outline. Additionally, every other weekend I would try to take a timed 100 question practice test.

Once I was about a month out, I started to drill the rules for the most commonly tested MBE subjects for the MEE. I just drilled my MEE outline until I had most of the really important rules memorized (more on that below).

The week of the test, I took one final practice test Saturday morning, then switched to trying to jam as many of the MEE rules as possible in my short-term memory. I did that all day Sunday, and then for a few hours Monday, the day before the exam.

Other things I did that I think cumulatively made a difference the second time I took the exam: generally tried to exercise during prep when I could, took fish oil (highly recommend this), ate relatively healthy, didn’t drink alcohol, ate a ton of food and drank a ton of water the day before so I wasn’t hungry during the exam and could have a light lunch, and, of course, tried to get 6 to 8 hours of sleep.

II. MPT

Honestly, I think this is the one portion of the exam where people who are good legal writers may not need a substantial amount of practice. Generally, a good way to determine if you are a “good legal writer” is if: 1. you did well in legal writing during law school, 2. you were on law review, or 3. you had a serious clerkship that required a significant amount of legal writing and you received positive feedback from your boss.

If that’s the case, then you might not need to practice more than a few MPTs. For me personally, I did well in legal writing and had a serious clerkship that required me to write complicated memorandums. I only did 2 MPTS each time I took the bar to ensure I could implement the below strategy and to make sure my timing was good. That’s it. I used this exact strategy and scored the following: on July 22, I scored a 4/6 for both MPTS. I’m not sure how I did on Feb 23, but if I had to guess I would say either a 3 or 4/6 for MPT #1 and a 5/6 for MPT #2. Just as an FYI, I’m guessing my MEE score contributed more to the increase in my written score.

Regardless of whether you are a “good legal writer”, I highly recommend you watch the BARMD video below on 1.5 speed (first link) and use the MPT formats from JD Advising (second link).

UBE MPT Tips – Use this Workshop for Your MPT Bar Exam Prep - YouTube

MPT Formats: Attack Outlines For Each Type Of MPT - JD Advising

I think my overall MPT strategy and the BARMD video can be summarized as follows:

1. Memorize the JD Advising formats. Objective memorandum= IRAC. Persuasive Brief= CRAC. You are almost always guaranteed at least one of those.

2. Read the partner memo. You must follow this exactly. Often times they throw in some goofy instruction e.g., capitalize all the words in topic headers. YOU MUST FOLLOW THAT INSTRUCTION. If you do not follow it, that is an easy way for them to start taking a large amount of points off.

3. Use the appropriate template while changing anything to follow EXACTLY what the partner memo says. Again, what the Partner memo says goes.

4. Write in the issues from the partner memo w/ appropriate headings. Write in a generic intro and conclusion at beginning and end of the memorandum.

5. Go to the statutes/ case law and line up the issue & rule. You should now have your IR in IRAC (CRAC if you are writing a persuasive brief).

6. Go straight to the case holdings. Match it up with the appropriate issue. and Write: In X case, the court concluded x, y and z because a, b, and c. In Y case, the court concluded x,y,z because a, b, and c. Basically, you are trying to synthesize the courts reasoning, so try to include some facts/ additional information from the case because you can use those later (see #9).

7. So now you should have IR and part of your A.

8. Re-read the facts from the partner memo of THIS CASE. Take notes.

9. Make a second paragraph under the case holdings talking about the important facts in this case and comparing those facts to the summarized rules you wrote previously e.g., this case is similar to x case because a fact, b fact, and c fact; therefore, it’s reasonable to conclude the court will likely come to a similar conclusion.

10. Spend the remaining time reading the cases and writing in the final paragraph of your essay for each issue comparing and distinguish the facts of this case and the cases.

11. If a little extra time. Try to add some more color to your intro/final.

This strategy should save you a considerable amount of time and help keep you organized. The facts of the cases are there to confuse and slow you down so don’t get bogged down in the facts; you are just looking for the important ones (easier said than done).

Two other important pieces of advice:

First, I would either do the second question first or allow yourself to use an extra 10 minutes of time to do the first question. Typically, the second question is easier and shorter and the first question is designed to be a huge time suck (so some people won’t even get to the second question).

Second, bring the intensity. I think going as intense as you can and working as quickly as possible is in your best interest on the MPT.

Ok, I think that’s all I’ve got for the MPT.

III. MEE

Similar to the MPT, I did not focus on doing a million MEE questions. Rather, I focused on memorizing the most commonly tested issues and rules. Once you have a solid MEE outline (you can also just use mine), you should go through the Everything Pack and just read the answers. See what issues come up. Do you have that issue/rule in your outline? If not, it might be worth adding the issue and rule. To decide whether to add it or not, I used Studicata’s percentiles of the likelihood an issue will be tested. So if it was just a one off type question, I ignored it.

Additionally, you can cut down how much you have to memorize by anticipating what questions will be asked. If you look at how often issues are tested, you can almost guarantee that you will receive a Civil Procedure question, a Criminal Procedure question, an Evidence question, and arguably an Agency/Pship question. That’s 4 of the 6 topics. From there, you can kind of predict what questions are going to come up. For instance, for Civil Procedure, they just tested PJ in Feb, so I can almost guarantee you next Summer there will be a subject matter jurisdiction + supplemental jurisdiction question. We also did not have Agency/pship, so I think that topic is likely to be tested as well.

After you study those 4 subjects, do your best to narrow down your focus. Typically, they will test Wills or Trusts, so if last time they tested Wills, maybe pick Trusts to focus on and just know some basics of Wills. I’m not saying don’t study certain subjects AT ALL. I’m saying strategically prioritizing your studying to decrease the amount of issues and rules you must memorize is smart. I correctly anticipated one of the non-mbe subjects in Feb, and I’m nearly certain that was my best essay (that or Civ Pro PJ which again I anticipated correctly). As an aside, a lot of test prep companies will put out predictions. Take those with a grain of salt.

Finally, be comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s almost a certainty you get at least one question you just think to yourself wtf is this? I didn’t know anything about one of the questions that came up in Feb, but I IRACed, looked at the question progression and facts, made up a rule that sounded reasonable given the context, and used every single fact they gave me. But even if it’s just a complete shot in the dark IRAC and using the facts alone should get you at least a 2. That’s easy points you don’t want to miss out on.

I would refer to my MEE outline primarily, but here are links to my posts covering MEE topics from July 22 (note that these are not meant to be comprehensive, rather a good resource to check your understanding against. I’d also recommend reading the comments as people had some fantastic contributions):

Wills in a nutshell for the slackers in the back : barexam (reddit.com)

Secured Transactions in a nutshell for the slackers in the back : barexam (reddit.com)

Agency and Partnership for the Slackers in the back : barexam (reddit.com)

Family Law for the SLACKERS IN THE BACK : barexam (reddit.com)

Corporations and LLCs for the slackers in the back : barexam (reddit.com)

CIV PRO for the Slackers in the Back : barexam (reddit.com)

Property in a nutshell for the SLACKERS IN THE BACK : barexam (reddit.com)

Constitutional Law for the SLACKERS IN THE BACK : barexam (reddit.com)

Additionally, u/SnooGoats8671 has some fantastic posts as well. I included a few below, I think these are great, the only suggestion I have is to try to keep the issue and rules as simple as possible:

Trusts MEGATHREAD for the LAST MINUTE MEE CREW: What we ACTUALLY need to know. : barexam (reddit.com)

Family Law MEGATHREAD for the LAST MINUTE MEE CREW: What we ACTUALLY need to know. : barexam (reddit.com)

Corporations & LLC's MEGATHREAD for the LAST MINUTE MEE CREW: What we ACTUALLY need to know. : barexam (reddit.com)

IV. MBE

The MBE is 50% of the exam. Typically, when people fail the bar exam, it’s because they didn’t do well on the MBE. Therefore, much of your time and effort should go towards doing well on the MBE. For Feb 23, I almost exclusively studied for the MBE.

My top tips for the MBE are:

1. Slow down. The MBE is testing the substantive information in the different subjects, but the questions are also testing reading comprehension. Many times the wrong answer choices will seem correct, may be factually correct, may be legally correct, but are still not the best answer choice based on what the question is asking. It’s ok to go long on some questions because you should be able to pick up the time on easier questions. I genuinely do not think timing is much of an issue on the MBE, and there is no bonus points for finishing early. So take your time, make sure you bubble correctly, and read the question correctly.

2. Your answers should not come from your knee jerk reactions or based on what answers looks the best; rather, you should try to pick that answer that correctly states the substantive knowledge from your outline. Of course, some of the harder questions don’t just regurgitate black letter law, so you really have to think through the answer choices.

3. Try to form a judgment about topics to decrease the amount of information you have to memorize. For example, instead of memorizing all the rules to double jeopardy, just know it’s only applicable in certain instances when essentially all the stars align. So you should be generally skeptical that double jeopardy will apply. Example #2, nearly all evidence is relevant except for the 5 specific exceptions and if the evidence is too prejudicial to the jury. So don’t let the facts convince you otherwise by stating that the evidence is somehow inconsequential. You utilize this strategy for quite a few of the topics so that way you don’t have to memorize as much information.

4. Use Process of Elimination. Even on easy questions, methodically go through each answer choice and eliminate the ones that you believe are definitively incorrect.

5. I personally think some topics are easier to master. Contracts, Criminal Law, and Constitutional law are topics that are comparatively easier to master IMO. Doing really well in those subjects will give you some breathing room for some of the other, more difficult subjects.

6. Speaking of difficult subjects, if you get simulated Civil Procedure questions that are absurd, I wouldn’t worry too much about them. In case you didn’t know, a large majority of the Civil Procedure questions in Adapatibar are simulated i.e., not real. Focus on the actual NCBE questions instead.

7. If you have it down to two answers, re-read how the question is asked and the specific facts the question gives you to determine the correct answer. Do not rely on the answer choices.

Lastly, I think typically people who do 2K+ questions and are hitting around that 65% correct threshold are sitting in a good spot. With that said, do not waste questions by just kind of doing them. I think you should be thoughtful in how you practice questions and spend time reviewing your answers. Every once in awhile you see someone on here who does 3K+ questions and fails b/c instead of learning the law they are simply recognizing answers.

I think Feb 23 MBE was specifically designed to try to make those people fail; which, is one of the reasons why so many people—myself included—thought the MBE was so difficult: the answer choices weren’t as straightforward.

Also, I thought this post by u/SnooGoats8671 was really well done and worth including: Final Megathread: 25 MBE Tricks I Have Known and Loved : barexam (reddit.com).

V. Some Final Thoughts

Whether you pass or fail, this exam does not define you. I think the whole exam is a hoop jumping exercise and, especially after looking around the room in February, is an exam that incidentally discriminates against minorities, parents, people from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and really anyone who has challenging life circumstances.

I find it terribly ironic that the people who are failing this exam are often times the attorneys that we as a society need the most. They are people who wanted to practice in rural areas. They are people who wanted to represent those who cannot afford representation. They are people who wanted to go into non-profit work. If that’s you, remember why you wanted to be an attorney in the first place and know the work you are going to do is so much more important than this arbitrary exam, keep fighting!

It’s absurd that becoming a licensed attorney is in large part dependent on doing well on a 200 multiple choice question test that covers subjects we studied 3 years ago with outlines available and is administered by an unaccountable, third-party organization whose primary focus is to monetize the exam to the greatest extent possible (charging for handwritten scoring, charging to take the exam, charging for NCBE questions etc. etc. etc.). I understand the need to pay for the administration of the exam, but some of the fees are absurd.

Moreover, I also think the whole notion that this exam tests “minimum competence” is an absurd characterization of a two-day long exam that people study full-time for months for. Happy to take volunteers from the State Supreme Court Justices who want to prove this exam tests minimum competence by volunteering to take the exam while working full-time as a Justice.

No one in this country should pay $100K+ for law school (often with student loans) and spend 3 to 4 years of their life pursuing becoming an attorney only to be excluded from the profession for their inability to pass the bar exam. The pass rates are abysmal. . .it’s an absurd result, especially given how “inclusive” law schools constantly claim to be. And no one should be in the position to where they are spending over a year of their life studying for the bar exam.

Ok, I’ll get off my soap box. Wishing everyone except for the NCBE the absolute best moving forward.